WHERE OCEAN AND IDENTITY MEET, A DEEPER STORY OF RELATIONSHIP, RESPONSIBILITY AND PRESENCE UNFOLDS

stick figures singing and playing guitar
Two men sitting on rocks by the ocean, smiling at sunset, with a pier in the background.

ABOUT THE FILM
Length: 90 minutes
Status: In Production
Primary Locations: Western Australia (Nyinggulu), Indonesia, Tonga
Featuring: Jono Allen & Tom Cannon
Director: Lisa Thomas
Director of Photography: Kyle Roepke
Production Company: Morii Media Productions


In the Wake of Giants is a feature documentary filmed across Western Australia’s Nyinggulu coastline and remote islands of the Indo-Pacific. The story follows ocean storytellers and conservationists Jono Allen and Tom Cannon as they travel through places where the sea is not spectacle, but part of identity, continuity, and daily life.

The film invites viewers to move with Jono and Tom as they confront their own beliefs about conservation, impact, and what it really means to visit a place with care. Observational and intimate in tone, the camera acts like a companion, allowing the audience to experience these moments as if travelling alongside two friends who are listening, learning, and questioning in real time.

Across coastlines and island communities, the film explores the idea that the ocean is relationship, not resource. It sits inside the quiet spaces where culture, livelihood, lineage, and the natural world meet, revealing that the oceans gifts can hold different meanings depending on where you stand. Conservation, here, is not simple. It is layered and lived, shaped by history, survival, and connection.

Throughout their journey, Jono and Tom encounter situations that challenge their expectations, offering deeper understanding even when what they witness is uncomfortable or confronting. These moments do not offer easy answers. Instead, they open space for reflection, responsibility, and a more honest engagement with the ocean and the people who depend on it.

In the Wake of Giants is ultimately a film about awe, and what comes after awe. It invites viewers to recognise their own impact, to move through the world with greater care, and to remember that the ocean is something we are all part of.

  • Director: Lisa Thomas
    Director of Photography: Kyle Roepke
    Featuring: Jono Allen & Tom Cannon
    Producer: Cassandra Hampson
    Co-Producer: Honny Palayukan (Western Australia + Indonesia)
    Production Company: Morii Media Productions

    Filming is supported by local contributors, regional guides and community knowledge holders across Western Australia and Indonesia. Participation unfolds at the pace and comfort of those involved, ensuring time, consent and presence guide collaboration rather than extraction.

  • The film is created with a small field-based crew, allowing marine and community environments to be experienced without pursuit or choreography. Underwater sequences are captured using natural light and restrained movement, reflecting observation over spectacle.

    Story is shaped through listening, time spent in place and contextual understanding. Conservation is not positioned as a solution to deliver, but as a perspective already held within communities who live beside the sea.

  • Status: In Production
    A significant portion of production has been completed, with field work continuing in Western Australia and Indonesia. Post-production will take place in Australia, with sound, music and picture developed together to support immersion, emotional movement and a sense of place.

    The film is shaped around an internal journey rather than a traditional problem–solution arc, inviting audiences to sit with complexity, presence and relationship rather than resolution.